The following is from a speech at the Soka Renaissance Victory Leaders Meeting in Tokyo on Nov. 30, 1991. It can be found in The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace, part 3, revised edition, chapter 29, installment 2, pp. 347–52.
From the mid-1970s, the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood—jealous of the success of the Soka Gakkai and Ikeda Sensei in building a global network for kosen-rufu—plotted the lay organization’s destruction. It tried to drive a wedge between Sensei and the members and bring the Soka Gakkai directly under its control. In an attempt to resolve this situation, Sensei resigned as Soka Gakkai president in 1979. The developments leading up to and immediately after this event are known as the “ first priesthood issue.”
The fundamental nature of the priesthood, however, remained unchanged, and in 1990, it hatched a plan known as Operation C (“C” meaning to “cut”), finally excommunicating the organization in November 1991. The developments leading up to and immediately after this announcement are known as the “second priesthood issue.”
On Nov. 30, two days after the notice of excommunication was issued, a special Soka Gakkai leaders meeting to celebrate the organization’s spiritual independence was held with Sensei.
Hearing that a special celebration was happening today, I decided to attend!
Nov. 28 [the date of the 1991 Notice of Excommunication from Nichiren Shoshu] is now a historic date.
November is the month of the Soka Gakkai’s founding and, as you all know, the number 28 is significant as the number of chapters in the Lotus Sutra. Quite unexpectedly, yet very appropriately, this date—Nov. 28—has become the day of our spiritual independence.
In a letter dated Nov. 28 [in 1269], Nichiren Daishonin writes:
Since in any case my body will in the end be tossed aimlessly into the fields, I wish to give my life for the one Buddha vehicle of the Lotus Sutra, to follow in the footsteps of the boy Snow Mountains and the bodhisattva Medicine King, and, just as King Sen’yo and King Possessor of Virtue had their names remembered in later ages,[1] to be spoken of and included in the Lotus and Nirvana sutras of the future. (“The Annual Lecture on the Doctrines of T’ien-t’ai,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 2, p. 336)
I am convinced, just as second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda said, that the name Soka Gakkai Buddha is certain to be included in the Buddhist scriptures of future ages.
Through the selfless dedication of its members acting in exact accord with the Daishonin’s teachings, the Soka Gakkai has actualized the widespread propagation of the Mystic Law. No other organization has propagated the Mystic Law to this extent, sharing its greatness with people all around the world.
I would like to declare once again that the Soka Gakkai is the organization carrying out correct faith and practice in the true spirit of Nichiren Buddhism.
The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin is the Buddhism of the Sun; it is a world religion illuminating all humanity. Viewed from every aspect, the Soka Gakkai’s development, as an organization whose members uphold this great philosophy, should also be global and universal. It mustn’t be held back within a narrow, closed, feudalistic framework.
April 10, 2026 World Tribune, p. 3
References
- Bodhisattva Medicine King is described in the Lotus Sutra preached by Shakyamuni, and the other figures appear in the Nirvana Sutra. The Daishonin states that he wishes that, in like manner, his name will be included in the Lotus and Nirvana Sutras preached by a Buddha of the future ↩︎
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